Plenty of star power as Golden Valley faces El Capitan for CCC girls soccer title
Golden Valley senior Jadyn Gong will start her final game in goal for the Cougars on Tuesday against El Capitan with the Central California Conference championship on the line.
Golden Valley (8-0-1 CCC) needs a win or tie to wrap up the CCC championship. If the Gauchos (7-0-2 CCC) win they’ll garner the three points they need to overtake the Cougars in the CCC standings to win the title.
The match is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. at Veterans Stadium.
Gong and the Cougars defenders will have their hands full against an El Capitan team that has scored 44 goals in nine matches this season. El Capitan is led by Fresno State-bound senior Haley Espinoza and junior Anaya Shelton, who is being heavily recruited by multiple college programs and was named the MVP of the CCC last year.
The two teams tied 2-2 earlier this season.
It’ll be the end of a stellar high school career for Gong, who has been named the CCC Goalie of the Year the past three years.
Gong has been tough to score against for opposing teams throughout her career.
The Cougars keeper has only surrendered five goals in nine league matches this season, recorded six shutouts along the way.
In the past three years, Gong has recorded 25 shutouts in 31 CCC matches. She’s only surrendered 13 goals in those 31 games.
“It’s not just me alone,” Gong said. “It’s the whole team. It’s our defenders, midfield and forwards who make all those shutouts possible. They do their job and I do mine.”
Gong didn’t make the switch to goalie until middle school. She admits she was scared when she first put the gloves on and had shots fired her way.
“It was intimidating at first,” she said. “I developed more courage and I learned not to hesitate to come out. I’m not afraid of contact anymore.”
“She plays with so much more confidence now,” said GV coach Ashley Faraone. “We’ve worked on coming out and getting back and cutting off angles. We joke that we want to play her in the field too because she has great ball skills too.”
Gong has developed into a leader as a four-year starter. She’s the quarterback on the field, directing her defenders.
“She has great knowledge of the game,” Faraone added. “She talks to players about what she sees. She dictates the flow of the game.”
Her play didn’t go unnoticed. She’s headed to UC Merced next year to continue her playing career.
Gong and fellow senior Haylee Heffner, who is also headed to UC Merced to play soccer, won CCC championships when they were freshmen. They want to end their careers with one more league title.
“We started as winners and we want to end as winners,” Heffner said.
